Former CBI Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana offering floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi statue at Sirivellapalem village near Machilipatnam | Photo Credit: BYARRANGEMENT more-in Former CBI Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana on Thursday demanded that the State government build the deep-sea port proposed in Machilipatnam rural mandal of Krishna district in government land only. It is targeted to gather over 5,200 acres land for the project, including 3,000 acres owned by the government. The former CBI officer interacted with farmers and private landowners at Gopuvanipalem and Sirivellapalem villages. Villagers told him that those dependent on agriculture and fishing in the coastal area would lose their livelihood. It is learnt that private landowners have been demanding a compensation of ?30 lakh per acre during various levels of talks. Farmers and fishermen gave copies of the representations they made to the officials concerned urging that their land be spared and the resolutions passed by the respective panchayats, to Mr. Lakshminarayana. ‘Conduct genuine survey’ The former CBI officer promised support to any campaign planned by the local communities to achieve their just demand. “The State government should take up a genuine survey to identify the encroachers and utilise it for the port project,” he said. Cutting across party affiliations, lawyers Lankisetti Balaji and Kunapureddi Srinivas and other leaders accompanied Mr. Lakshminarayana.

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